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tv   Americas News Headquarters  FOX News  February 20, 2021 9:00am-11:00am PST

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>> president trump now declaring a major disaster in texas as millions of people in the state still have no access to safe drinking water. welcome to america's news headquarters. i'm griff jenkins in washington. >> i'm alicia acuna in denver. residents are grappling with the difficult education, there's a glimmer of hope as temperatures are set to edge a bit higher. grady is on the ground where folks are keeping. hi, grady. >> hey, alicia. they're have you goling -- they're struggling here, but they have food and water to help those who don't. we're at a food pantry and they
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had a similar event yesterday and served nearly 3500 families. you can see today this line of cars wraps all the way around the building here. this is specifically for food, but there are similar lines all across it texas for water and that's because half the state's 15 million residents are under a boil water order right now. if you go to the grocery store, there's been a rush on water and shelves are bare everywhere you go. same for food items, meat is wiped out as well as nonperishables. and it will take a long time to repair are damaged pipes. they've burst and frozen because of these unexpected temperatures here. they don't deal with that normally here so the infrastructure isn't built for that. there are grocery stores closed because of burst pipes and restaurants and homes and if you want to call a plumber, that's a hard thing to find right now if you want one to
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come to your house, it could be several weeks. we've talked to several residents all over the dallas, fort worth area and here is how they say they're getting by. >> i don't have any water. i have to boil, you know, we're on the boil water, but other than that, thank god i didn't lose lights or power. >> i think it's going to take quite a while because you've got so much damage to water lines to people's houses and not everybody has insurance. it's not just foot and-- food and water distribution, six million doses of the coronavirus vaccine has been delayed because of the winter weather. there is some good news, that is to power has been restored to most homes in texas, only 80,000 are without it right now and you can see here, there's not a lot of snow on the ground and temperatures are above freezing and supposed to stay that way for the first time in about a week. and there are no freezing temperatures in the forecast for the first time in a while.
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alicia. >> that's some good news, grady trimble in texas, thank you so much. griff: for more on this, texas congressman and house whip tony gonzalez joins us. congressman, thank you for taking time. your hit is getting hit with first the power outages and now what appears to be a water crisis. you have been trying to help. what's the latest on the ground in texas? >> thank you for having me, it's been a hell of a week in texas and as communities are trying to get back on their feet, you know, it's been great to see people come together. i was just in fair oaks branch outside of san antonio yesterday where commissioner debarry and council woman kerner came together to help the community distribute water so it's great to see my district covers 800 miles of texas and mexico border. imagine if your community is on the border, you don't have
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electricity, you don't have water and now you have 200 displaced immigrants that are placed on your community and you can't handle it. griff: well, the combination of the border there in your 23rd district and the power outages and the water crisis. i want to play for you, just a few days ago the mayor of del rio, which is a border town in your district, is literally pleading, begging with the biden administration, here is a little of what he had to say. listen. >> we have been outsourcing dialysis treatment for in-need persons in the community and relocate the elderly in need of power for oxygen tanks, we're completely and utterly spread thin with resources for our own residents. and i can't mix the immigrants with those displaced-- >> look, asking liberals to
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tackle border security is like asking vegetarians where is the best steakhouse in town. they simply do not get it. now, on the border, these aren't necessarily liberals, these are democrats that see it and live it every day and not one person is telling me that they are for amnesty, not one person is saying we're for open borders. what they are is he-- they are saying we need a stronger border package and that makes sense. i introduced a bill security first act that focuses on doubling funding for law enforcement officers that are tackling this. sheriffs, police officers, border patrol agents, that's one of the things we need to do. we also need to look at how do we recruit and retain border patrol agents, i think there's a way to do that. griff: congressman we're seeing 3,000 am apprehensions are
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growing and are we seeing a crisis on the border similar to one that perhaps president biden saw in 2014? >> our southern border is on fire and things are only going to continue to get worse unless there's action and there has to be sensible, reasonable action that includes both border security as well as, you know, a sensible immigration reform. some of the proposals that the administration has put forward are simply out of touch. an open border doesn't make sense . griff: let me stop you there. what in the bill did you have the biggest problem with? >> yeah, the biggest part is some of the amnesty, you know, some of this -- that gets too far ahead of it. it doesn't tackle -- it addresses the symptoms and not the problem. i would love for them to look at infrastructure, specifically in our ports. you have american citizens that
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live in in juarez that travel to america that have to wait in these lines. these are the issues we should be tackling, not looking at some of these very contentious amnesty proposals. griff: two years ago i traveled with the caravan from honduras and came across a pass in your district. my last question for you is, you saw the administration yesterday lift remaining mexico mpp policy. what is that going to do to your district? >> the mpp policy has worked and by lifting that, all that does is create, you know, more burden on these local governments and the border patrol agents. we really have to take pause and we have to secure our border. one way to do that is to add resources to our border patrol agents with operation stone guarded. >> republican congressman thank you very much for joining us,
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and our hearts go out to all of you struggling with this water crisis. thank you. >> thank you. >> new documents reveal how democrats covid bill ear marks for a railroad project in silicon valley. >> hi, we're learning more in the $1.9 trillion stimulus plan. and one is part of a rail project in silicon valley. it's not going well from some republicans. and the earmarked costs have nothing to do with combatting covid-19. new documents obtained by fox business indicates the rail project will cost $112 million. construction hasn't begun. it's been in the planning phase for several years. president biden's appointee to
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be deputy administrator is from the santa clara administration authority for her appointment last month. a spokesperson says that she's reconfused to issues in california. the estimated cost in california skyrocketed 4.7 billion to 6.9 billion. obama's former top economic advisor lawrence summers worries about the huge cost of the stimulus bill. there's a chance that a scale closer to world war ii levels than normal recession levels will set off inflationary pressures the kind we've not seen in a generation. some lawmakers are concerned about the high sticker price, the latest stimulus bill. others want to get the money out as fast as possible to help americans in need, pet projects and all, alicia. >> lucas tomlinson, thanks, griff. griff: and there's calls for new york governor cuomo as the governor goes on the offensive.
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aishah hasnie outside the office. >> the governor has essentially been blaming all of his problems on a political witch hunt, but this has grown into more of a bipartisan battle. assemblyman ron kim, for example, the governor's loudest democrat critic says that virtually allstate republicans and up to 30 democrats are now on board with an impeachment inquiry. listen to what he told cavuto just in the last hour. >> i believe we have a number of meetings coming up on monday. i believe impeachment must be part of that discussion. a number of colleagues throughout this week have reached out to me that that's where they want to take this. >> now, kim is among a group of state democrats that wants to strip cuomo of his pandemic emergency power. he's accusing him of obstructing justice. he says the governor called him last week and threatened to destroy him if he didn't put out a false statement in support of cuomo's top aide.
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the governor, of course, has denied all of this and he spent friday blaming politics and the media for spreading lies. >> it's all of this political toxicity and then you get some people who have a personal agenda. some people who have had a long-term problem with this office, which still goes on. >> meanwhile, the fbi and the u.s. attorney in brooklyn are reportedly investigating the administration's handling of the crisis and nine u.s. senators are demanding public hearings, even far left new york congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez now joining the calls for a full investigation. all of this surrounds two issues, a march 25th order that a allowed sick patients back into nursing homes and a coverup after the top aide revealed that the administration did in fact stall the release of data on nursing home deaths over father
quote
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fears of a political backlash. in terms of that march 25th order, griff, the health commissioner here, howard zucker did come out and try to defend that policy, but according to a study by a group, the empire center, they found that that order did lead to hundreds, if not more than a thousand nursing home deaths, just incredible stuff coming out every day. griff. griff: the story is growing. aishah hasnie in new york. thank you. >> and let's bring in new york state senator john liu, he's one of the democrats calling on this. let's talk about impeachment. where do you stand on this and how likely is this? >> it's very clear that so many people and so many families are hurting. they've hurt this past year from coronavirus, family members have suffered and too
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many have died in our nursing homes and other facilities. so we need to understand the pain that families continue to suffer through. on the issue of what state government needs to focus on, my focus and that of most of my colleagues is one of getting vaccination sites up and running quickly as possible and filled with supplies. now that washington is paying attention to what's happening and the supply chain seems to be moving more rapidly, that's our primary focus, that is my focus and part of that has to be convincing my constituents and fellow new yorkers that they need to get the vaccine as quickly as possible. so that we can achieve herd mentality, so we can almost get back to life as normal as we used to know it. on the issue of what exactly happened this past year under the governor's emergency powers and the hiding or at least
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non-- the delayed disclosure of nursing home deaths and infection rates, those are things that have to be explored at some point. but for now, the immediate focus, alicia, is to get people vaccinated so we can get back to life as normal. >> senator, you heard in aishah hasnie's report there's talk of impeachment moves as early as next week. getting back to my original question, where do you stand on impeachment? do you think this is something that will move forward on would you support it? >> the main issue right now that i know my colleagues and i -- my colleagues in the state senate and i, we are focused on making changes, including revoking the emergency powers that the governor was granted a year ago in a situation at a time when very little was known about this coronavirus. now at this point, a lot more is known about covid-19 and the
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em impetus and motivation is to get people vaccinated and keep people safe. on the issue of what the cuomo administration did or did not do, the investigations are going on, i will wait for the investigation to take their course to get all information. at this point it seems like different people are saying different things. and if i had time i would try to sort through all of this, but right now we still have an ongoing pandemic. people are still being hospitalized. people are still dying so we need to get the vaccinations out there as quickly as possible. that's got to be our primary focus. >> i'd like to focus on those family members who have lost loved ones in nursing homes and we've heard this week from brothers peter and daniel arbini. they lost their father in a nursing home. take a listen to what they had to say. >> we never advocated that this
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director was criminal. it was not supported by science or common sense, we needed empathy. i know you did your best, but sometimes your best isn't good enough and you gloated about it in your book and you need to apologize. >> senator, peter arbini says he's a democrat and the became a democrat because of mario cuomo, andrew cuomo's father and he says it insults people when it comes out of the governor's mouth. >> are you going to play something from the governor? >> no, my question is, do you >> okay. >> how much of politics are at play here because that's the accusation by the governor. >> i think the governor has certainly not shown his best by any stretch of the imagination this past week. he and his administration have dealt with recent disclosures, very troubling disclosures in the wrong way and very defensive. what i have implored him to do is to get focused.
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get focused. don't keep taking things personally. he apparently doubled down on a statement yesterday and i think that peter has a point here, that, you know, the governor's got to show some humanity here. show some humanity, restore public confidence in state government so we can do the job that is most important at hand right now which is keeping people safe and getting people vaccinated as quickly as possible. >> new york state senator john liu, we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> be sure to join us tomorrow, chris wallace talks to dr. anthony fauci about vaccines and distribution and howard kurtz talks to larry kudlow about the media's coverage of this president and his former boss donald trump that's here on the fox news channel. two air force pilots are dead after their plane went down in alabama on a training mission.
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flying from columbus, mississippi to tallahassee florida. it's used to prepare pilots for flying fighter and bomber aircraft. the air force has not yet released the names. pilots or the cause of the crash. >> president biden making moves to undo his predecessor's foreign policy agenda, and he's starting with iran and taking steps forward to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal. >> three years after president trump pulled out of the iran nuclear deal, president biden may want back in. next. only pay for what you need. ♪ liberty. liberty. liberty. liberty. ♪ ok everyone, our mission is to provide complete, balanced nutrition for strength and energy.
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>> the biden administration making a diplomatic push to revive the nuclear deal with iran. this as president biden reveals more of his foreign policy agenda during a meeting with world leaders. david spunt is live with the details. >> good afternoon, the president has been on the job today marks one month. america is back is a popular phrase here among the president himself and other white house officials. he met with several different
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countries, leaders of several different countries virtually and one of the top issues is the united states is willing to at least have discussions with iran, a complete 180 from what we saw with the trump administration after pulling out of that iran nuclear deal back in 2018. now, the united states eventually may rejoin that 2015 nuclear deal. president biden during a virtual meeting with those world leaders at the munich security conference made it clear he's working to achieve peace with iran. listen. >> we're going to work in close cooperation with our european and other partners as we proceed. we'll also work together to lock down raid logic material to prevent several from acquiring and using them. >> and several republicans quick to criticize, and tom cotton, attacked instead of retaliating and what does
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president biden do look to lift sanctions and diplomatic talks and iran will exploit the weekness. and with france and germany, pushed back on the america is back rhetoric. and angela merkel with the withdrawal of troops and macron said that france can't be dependent just on the united states, but china. >> and china is a problem, russia, korea, along with iran. and what president biden said in the east room about democracy. democracy doesn't happen by accident, we have to defend it, fight for its strength and renew it and prove our model is a relic of our history it's the single best way to revitalize the promise of our future and
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that president biden will meet virtually with canadian leader trudeau on tuesday. back to you. alicia: david spunt at the white house. griff: and navalny remains behind bars, and after a hearing not to let the government scare them. >> i don't really enjoy the place where i've been put, but nevertheless, i don't have any regrets about my returns, my activities because i did everything right. the phrase blessed those-- and it's the main political idea in russia we're an unhappy country we can't get out of this vicious circle. >> the amount of time he was under house arrest, and this
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comes days after reviewing the court of human rights, stating that navalny should be released. alicia: we're moments away from takeoff. you want to stay with us. nasa is launching a cargo ship to restock the space station. we'll take you there live to the launch pad. stay with us. we made usaa insurance for members like martin. an air force veteran made of doing what's right, not what's easy. so when a hailstorm hit, usaa reached out before he could even inspect the damage. that's how you do it right. usaa insurance is made just the way martin's family needs it with hassle-free claims, he got paid before his neighbor even got started. because doing right by our members, that's what's right. usaa. what you're made of, we're made for. ♪ usaa ♪
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♪ ♪ ♪ ♪ partly cloudy skies where the ss katherine is set to depart for the international space station minutes from now if the weather permits and meteorologist adam klotz is taking a look at the launch forecast. how is it looking, adam? >> you know what? things are improving up and down the entire east coast this hour. it's part of the nasty weather we've seen the last couple of days. really the tail end of a snowstorm. you see the cold front kind of sitting off the coast and all of this is pulling away so
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we're looking at improving conditions and even if you're in the areas where you saw snow yesterday, you're looking at improving conditions. on the back side of this system things dry off a little bit bitd they cool off, temperatures throughout the day staying only in the 20's if you live into the new england area. but the big story has been the last several days all of that winter weather and we'll start to see that back off maybe just a little bit. your current temperatures warmer than the last couple of days and you'll continue to see the cold air retreat feeling more like it should feel. this is the model that shows the arctic air spilling down in the middle of the country, that continues to work back up into places in canada farther north where it should be this time of year. and you see some of the middle of the country where it's so, so cold and wintery. beginning to back off and beginning to warm up. take you through saturday's highs into sunday's highs and see warmer air pooling up in portions of texas in particular and only gets warmer as you continue to travel into monday.
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the only big winter storm we're paying attention to it and tracking out there is taking place in the pacific northwest over the next couple of days, you could be talking high elevation snow seen the last several days. back out to you. >> thank you, adam klotz, nice to see warmer temperatures in texas, griff. griff: and weather permitting in the atlantic area, may get a glimpse of the ss katherine's resupply mission which is busy in space news. nasa has landed the mars perseverance on the red planet and sending images back to earth. joining us now is the member of the perseverance team, mariah baker and a fellow at the center for earth and planetary studies. mariah, thank you for taking time and we're about to see the ss katherine take off from virginia. the news this past week with
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percy was quite significant why? >> yeah, so, the perseverance mission is nasa's newest flagship mission at mars and we landed the rover successfully on thursday in a location called jezero crater on mars. and it's a particularly interesting place because we know that about three billion years ago there was an intercrater lake and a dynamic river system there and so we're there searching for signs of life, and this is a really important mission and there's going to be a lot of science and a lot of great discoveries that come from it so we're all just really excited. griff: i was fascinated and excited, too. talk, if you will, for our viewers a little about the seven minutes of terror as the rover came through mars' atmosphere there at some 12, 13,000 miles an hour. >> yes. the seven minutes of terror refers to the seven minutes it takes the spacecraft to descend
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from the top of the atmosphere down to the surface. as you said, it's got to slow down from about 12,000 miles per hour to zero. so this is a really scary part of the mission and it's particularly terrifying because the spacecraft has to do it entirely autonomously. there's no human intervention so the engineers and the scientists back here on earth have to sort of sit back and cross their fingers and hope that everything performs the way it was designed and everything executed perfectly and the spacecraft got down to the surface so i think we all had a collective sigh of relief when it happens. seven minutes can be pretty scary. griff: an important point there because the ss katherine johnson, she's an important person, a mathematician that back in the late 50's and 60 space travel wouldn't be possible without her. and describe the space race to the '60s to what we did last
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week on mars. how much of an accomplishment this really is in terms of what america is able to do. >> yeah, absolutely. when you look back that all that nasta accomplished in the last couple of decades, it's incredible. and we first sent spacecraft just to fly by and take a look at what mars even looks like and once we've done that successfully we were able to move on to sending orbiters that can survey the planet and give us a better picture and then we move on to landing on the surface and so every mission is kind of in the progression and we sent landers, and then we sent rovers and so every mission is new and you can look back and it's really incredible to see how far that we've come. griff: you're seeing now on our screen some of the new images sent back from the rover there on the bottom of the screen. you're seeing and watching the
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launch of the katherine johnson imminently. but i want to talk about flying a helicopter on the red planet, a big accomplishment as well. >> yes, this is entirely new for nasa. we've never flown a helicopter on another planet before. this is a late addition to the mission, and everyone is excited about it. the ingenuity helicopter is along with the rover on mars. >> thank you for an incredible accomplishment mariah baker, thank you very much. as we watch on the screen, in virginia, ss katherine johnson taking off any moment as we look at this as mariah and i talked about, a significant accomplishment. let's listen in for a second.
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>> t-minus 10. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, we have engine ignition. engine started. and we have lift-off for the ng15 mission. engines are at 100%. attitude, pressure. the ss katherine johnson takes flight on the 59th anniversary of john glenn's flight carrying tons of cargo to the international space station. good on the first so far. >> engines at 100%. >> that is the ss katherine johnson, blasting off on the 15th resupply mission to the
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international space station. it's carrying some 8,000 pounds of research, crew supplies and hardware. it's blasting into clear skies. the significance of the name katherine johnson for those that may not know, she was a mathematician with nasa and it was her math, specifically made it possible in 1962 for john glenn to do his orbital flight. in fact, computers were fairly new then, alicia, and john glenn was rumored according to nasa's web page saying, listen, get the girl. if she gets the math right. i'll go. he did. that of course began the space race and now you're seeing both the mars perseverance rover landing and of course, this rocket launch here in virginia. it's quite something, alicia. >> these never get old do they griffith, the sound and sight of progress, the ss katherine
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johnson is set to arrive at the international space station at 4:40 a.m. on monday morning with its 8,000 pound delivery. and it's just quite a sight 0 to see. it's something that america could be so proud of. we've had such a big week with nasa and for american ingenuity and science, it's been fantastic. griff: it's hard not to get excited and have your heartbeat a little faster watching the lift-off of the ss katherine johnson. let's bring in mariah baker, i believe is still standing by with us. mariah, what are your thoughts as we watch this? >> you know, i think it's just incredible. you think that working in this industry that i would be a little more familiar with it at this point, but it's really -- every time we launch something off the surface or land on another planet or visit the iss these things are absolutely incredible and it really never ceases to amaze me what the
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engineers can do and what nasa can do when we put our minds to it. and it's an exciting time for space exploration, there's a lot going on. griff: mariah, we don't know exactly what they're sending up, some 8,000 pounds of research and crew supplies and what not, but, for example, on the percy, on the mars rover there was something called moxie. a very significant instrument and it's amazing what we're putting up there. talk a minute about what moxie is. >> absolutely. yeah. moxie is a really, really innovative technology something i'm very excited for. basically what moxie does, it intakes the carbon dioxide atmosphere and it tries to produce oxygen out of that. that could be used by future humans on the surface of mars, either for breathing, or even potentially for rocket launches like what you just witnessed off of the surface of mars. and so, this is really setting us up for human exploration of
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mars in the future and it's really, really exciting. >>. griff: the future is right. mariah baker, thank you very much as we witness that historic launch there. it's of course the 15th resupply mission, but every little step certainly matters and in the advancement what began as a space race many years ago. thank you, mariah. >> absolutely. griff: alicia. alicia: thanks, griff. thousands are still without power in texas. even as the lights come back on many are still without water. we'll have the latest on the situation coming up next.
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>> now for a look at some of our headlines after days of freezing temperatures and countless ruptured pipes. many are without water. parts of the texas are under a boil water order. and places opening up to get water where they need it, in
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mississippi and louisiana and some texans left their homes to find warmth in hotels and looking for a place to stay after a fire. the 102-room hotel in killeen, texas caught fire friday night. some minor injuries were reported and two people took themselves to the hospital for smoke inhalation. the cause of the fire is not yet known. as some good news coming out of texas, mattress mack opened his furniture stores to provide people a warm place to rest. a local business also brought over breakfast tacos off much needed and appreciated pick-me-up. that's good, alicia. >> and hard to follow street tacos. what needs to be changed after the failure of texas' power grid. our next guest writes an op-ed that this blizzard proves we have not been taking our energy security enough. and the concept of energy security has many aspects, but
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the most common one we have enough affordable energy so we don't freeze to death for cold spells like the one wreaking havoc across the continent. and the author of that op-ed robert bryce. he was been speaking and writing on this top rick-- topic, and he wrote that piece folks should know, while under blankets from the cold in austin. first of all, tell us, what do people need to know about their energy security. >> well, i think the big takeaway, alicia, thanks for having me on, we ignore the diversity of our energy supplies at our peril. the piece that i published in forbes on monday morning at the time right after we had a power cut here in austin, my wife and i were without power for 45 hours, but the punchline here
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is that climate change is a concern, but it's not the only concern. we have been not attentive enough to the security of the electric grid and this is key right now and the lesson taken away, i think the biggest from the texas blackouts, this idea of electrify everything, which is being promoted by some of the biggest environmental groups in america and climate activists that we should quick burning things and electrify all transportation, all home heating, that's incredibly dangerous and could lead to not just a few people dying, a lot of people dying. the key for safety for my wife and i having a natural gas connection. that's the key here, our natural gas grid now is critical to energy security and i also want to talk about nuclear. because nuclear performed the best during the texas blackouts. alicia: and you talk about climate activists and i do want to play something here because
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chris wallace just interviewed bill gates on this very topic and bill gates says the texas governor is wrong when he's blaming green energy. take it listen to this. >> the governor says that wind turbines, especially failed and created this crisis. your response? >> well, it's not at all true. the failure to weatherize some of the nuclear sensors and natural gas plants and even some of the wind are responsible for their power shortage and the wind is a tiny part of it. alicia: and you can watch more of that interview with chris wallace and bill gates tomorrow on fox news sunday, but robert, i want to get back to you. what is your response there to what bill gates said? >> well, there's a lot of controversy and it's raging here in texas don't point the fingers at wind and solar. i have solar panels on the roof of my house, 8 1/2 kilowatts, they were useless during this
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blackout. i think the key is to remember we can talk about wind and the state has spent billions on winds including over $7 billion for the an interstate transmission line. i think the key here, two keys and it's points that i make both in my new book, a question of power, it's a point that i make in the new documentary that we released with my colleague tyson last year juice, how electricity explains the world. if we're serious about decarbonization and we have to be serious about nuclear energy. during the blackouts the state's four nuclear reactors performed better than any other form of generation and that those reactors were key to preventing a total statewide blackout, which would have been truly catastrophic so i'm pro nuclear. if you're anti-carbon dioxide or anti-nuclear, you're
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blackout. >> listen to the power hungry podcast, you'll learn so much. thank you, robert bryce. griff: alicia, he was the first african-american to serve as a special ops sniper. we'll bring him to you coming up.
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>> this black history month we're highlighting the contributions of notable african-americans, including nicholas irving, the first sniper to deploy with the battleup. charles has more. >> hey, griff. nicholas irving didn't have a lot of options coming out of high school. joining the u.s. military was all he had and being the son of two cold war veterans, it seemed to be a natural fit for him at age 17 enlisted and by 23 the first african-american special operations sniper to deploy with the 3rd ranger battalion. >> a couple of guys in the sniper section would say, hey, man, i don't think, i've never seen a black guy in sniper section. a few jokes here and there like that. >> at battle he let his sharpshooting skills, and he racked up a record 33 confirmed kills during his deployment in
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hellman province earning the nickname reaper. he had his fair share of calls with death. and he found himself the wrong end of a barrel he and his fellow troops were pinned down as a sniper and other taliban fighters carried out an hours' long ambush that wounded several of his fellow soldiers. >> i legit blacked out and wanted to cry looking at the pl with the hole in his chest. it was terrifying, we had this decision, we're going to pull the pin of a grenade, jump on it and kill ourselves because we didn't want to get captured. >> and we'll be right back with more on the latest out of texas coming up. so you only pay for what you need? really? i didn't-- aah! ok. i'm on vibrate. aaah! only pay for what you need.
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deposit, plan and pay with easy tools from chase. simplicity feels good. chase. make more of what's yours. griff: president biden approving major disaster declaration in texas as millions of people in the lone star state find themselves without clean drinking water. welcome to america's news headquarters. i'm griff jenkins from washington. alicia: i'm alicia acuña in denver. this was brought on by the major winter storm but there's good news on the way as temperatures expect today climb up into the 50's, grady trimble a a closer look on the ground in fort worth, hi, grady. >> hey, alicia, the know has most melted at this point.
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we are at a drive-thru food pantry in fort worth where for the last several hours car after car has come by and loaded up with food because along with water, it's incredibly hard to find. jennifer edwards is one of the volunteers out here and you've been dealing with your own issues with power outages at your own home and you are helping here. what's the need like in this area? >> well, after going to the grocery store and seeing that the shelves are empty and that on social media we have lots of people that are concerned about not having enough food and water and everything, yeah, there's a need. our towns, our city needs the need and just doing my part, helping out and coming and making sure that everyone has what they need. and i'm talked to a lot of people who told me, i've never needed the help of a food bank before but i haven't had work because of the pandemic and you add this to the mix and the shortages at the grocery stores, it's the perfect storm.
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>> it is, it is. when my church reached out to us and asked for people to help and volunteer, i said, yeah, of course, i will come and help because they need it. >> the food bank has served 800 families today. there's so much need here that they actually have had to start giving less to each car that comes by because, well, they are trying to spread it as much as they can to everybody who comes through here. another issue that people in texas are dealing is high electricity bills. governor greg abbott is convening an emergency meeting with the lieutenant governor, several members of the state legislature because power bills are going up because of wholesale providers. here is a statement from the governor, it's unacceptable for texans who suffered days with cold and hit with skyrocketing energy costs. that's something that they are dealing with. the food and water shortages is something that they are dealing with. half of state is under boiled
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advisory. the weather is not an issue but all of the aftermath that it caused is what they are dealing with now. alicia: we think about them in the days to come, grady trimble, thanks so much. the first wave of asylum seekers waiting in mexico have begun entering the u.s. to wait for their cases to be heard as the biden administration rolls back a major trump-era remain in mexico policy. reigniting an immigration fight in congress. joining us nevada congresswoman and member of homeland security, dina, thank you very much for joining us today. appreciate it. before we get started, i would like for you to take a listen to something congressman republican tony gonzález said from texas earlier to griff jenkins, take a listen. >> our southern border is on fire and things are only going to get continue to get worse unless there's action and there has to be sensible, reasonable action that includes both border security as well as, you know,
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sensible immigration reform. some of the proposal that is the administration has put forwards are simply out of teach. an open border doesn't make sense. alicia: congressman, can you explain the proposal the democrats have, exactly what it does and why you don't think it's out of touch? >> i don't. i think the main point that you heard this congressman that is a republican say that we need to reform our immigration system. anybody think that it's broken. this bill is all encompassing and includes number of provisions. it's just the first step and work across the aisle to see if we can come to some compromise but it works because it puts better technology at the border to go after contraband and the bad guy that is we don't want in this country. it provides a pathway to citizenship but it's an earned citizenship. it's supported by the chamber of commerce and number of businesses as a way to help grow
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our economy and we need to remember that at it applies only to people who have been in the country since january of this year. not those who come afterwards. alicia: regardless of what happens in the house, they will need republican assistance and support in the senate and senator lindsey graham, republican was at the border this week and this is what he had to say. >> i'm willing to deal with the 11 million that have been here for years. i'm willing to give them a chance to stay, learn our language, pay a fine, get in the back of the line only if we fix the problem so we don't have 11,000,020 -- 11 million 20 years from now. alicia: it doesn't go far enough to stem the flow and doesn't put enough forward in terms of security. >> the technology that will help us at the border as opposed to
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some wall that anybody can climb under or above. like el salvador, the root causes of the migration, if we go after corruption in the countries, help them fight poverty, then people won't be wanting or willing to make the dangerous trip to the united states, don't have a reason to -- they'll have a reason to stay home. alicia: before you go, how are things going with the vaccine distribution in your state. >> well, everybody wants more and they want it faster but that's been a national priority now. before one state had to compete with another and now we have a national plan. part of the recovery puts more money into getting more vaccines in arms, but even this week we are going to see more come to the state, the problem now is that the storm has disrupted a lot of the shipment. but they're addressing that and
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they think it would be solved by the end of next week. alicia: congresswoman dina titus of nevada, thank you so much, we appreciate the conversation. >> thank you for having me. griff: governor cuomo defending his administration's order for nursing homes to accept covid-19 patients. this as the fbi and the u.s. attorney's office launch an investigation into his task force handling of it. aisha outside of office. aishah: the governor has been blaming the media and really only blaming himself for not fighting back harder. >> i was not aggressive enough in knocking down the falsity. we were busy, trying to save lives. i'm not going to make that
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mistake again. aishah: but this has grown into a big bipartisan battle. assemblyman ron kim, the loudest democrat critic says virtually all state republicans and up to 30 democrats are now on board with an impeachment inquiry. kim is among a group of democrats that want to strip cuomo also of his emergency powers accusing him of obstructing justice. the fbi and the u.s. attorney in brooklyn now reportedly investigating the administration's handling of the crisis and 9 u.s. senators are demanding public hearings with even far-left new york congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez joining the cause for a full investigation. all of this surrounds march 25th order to allow sick patients back into the nursing homes and also accusations of a cover-up after cuomo's top aide revealed that the administration did stall the release of data on nursing home deaths over fears
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of a political backlash from the trump administration with ron kim questioning why the governor gave nursing homes full-blown immunity. >> you need to own up to your mistakes, issue a public apology, create a victim's compensation fund for the families who lost loved ones, repeal that stupid legal immunity that gave the worst nursing homes a get out of jail free card and -- and the number of different policies that we should be working onto fix what you did. aishah: and griff, ron kim says there are a number of meetings scheduled for monday and lawmakers want to talk impeachment. griff. griff: much more on this story coming this week. thank you, aishah. alicia: the biden administration says it's ready to engage in talks with iran and world powers in a diplomatic push to rejoin
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the 2015 nuclear deal. david spunt in the white house. david. reporter: you mentioned iran, that's where a lot of eyes are focused on. the administration has made it clear, talks which is 180 from what we saw president trump's four-year tenure. they applied a maximum pressure campaign on iran but we are talking about the 2015 iran nuclear deal and that's what the united states ultimately wants to rejoin. president trump withdrew from the deal in 2018. president biden during a virtual meeting with world leaders yesterday at the white house made it clear working to achieve peace with iran is a priority, but republicans were quick to criticize florida senator marco rubio out with a statement in part, the biden administration's posture toward iran is nothing
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short of reckless, not long after iranian-backed forces attacked americans in iraq. president biden is desperately trying to reenter a failed deal and provide sanctions relief to iranian regime. president biden also spoke at length with israeli president benjamin netanyahu, prime minister netanyahu, critic of the iran nuclear deal and close friend of former president trump. despite that friendship, the current president and netanyahu had an hour long call, productive according to both sides. they discussed among other things iran, a country that frequently targets israel. now president biden whether meeting with folks virtually yesterday at the white house or even mutually in person which is the hope post-covid, says democracy is a priority around the world. listen to this. >> democracy doesn't happen by accident. we have to defend it, fight for it, strengthen it, renew it. we have to prove that our model
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isn't a relic of history. it's the single best way to revitalize the promise of our future. and if we work together with our democratic partners, with strength and confidence, i know we will meet every challenge and outpace every challenger. david: president trump while in office in 4 years used america first. president biden is saying america is back. the white house announced today he will meet with canadian prime minister justine trudeau on tuesday. griff: an earmark in that bill setting $100 million for silicon valley rail project. lucas tomlinson live from washington with the details. lucas: apparently the bill is not just for covid relief. one raising eyebrows is
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100 billion for railway construction. cost has nothing to do with combating covid-19. new documents obtained by fox business indicate the rail project will cost $112 million. construction hasn't begun. right now in the planning phase and it has been for the last several years. president biden's appointee, deputy administrator of the federal transit administration rita fernandez was previously general manager and ceo of santa clara valley transportation authority before her appointment last night and fda spokesperson says fernandez has rescued for work in california. the rail cost in california, 4.7 to $6.9 billion. art warned about the high price of president biden's stimulus plan. >> this money comes from workers and producers and taxpayers and it'll have to be repaid or at
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least burdensome on the -- on the system and therefore, you should always look at whom you're helping but whom you're taking the money from because government doesn't create resources. it redistributes resources. lucas: some lawmakers concerned about the high sticker price of stimulus bill and others want to get the money out as soon as possible to americans in need, projects and all. griff: to break all of this down let's bring in panel, gop strategist alex and dnc deputy national press secretary josé, thank you for being here, gentlemen, on saturday. let's go to the story lucas just gave us. the covid relief bill which seemed to be very much on its path to getting past in a partisan manner but now this earmark for big-tech subway certainly raising some eyebrows, josé, let me start with you, what is your reaction to this?
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>> well, look, we know in general it's a god bill, it's got what americans need. we are talking about $1,400 for most americans. we are talking about a raise, raising the minimum wage and 73% of americans support biden's effort to get this done. so republicans need to get -- need to get on top of that because the american people will judge him. this is not a red bill or blue bill. this is an american bill. american people are hurting, businesses are hurting and this american rescue plan will help them get back on their feet. griff: alex, it's been a long time since i've heard about earmarks but obviously now in this bill the bike-tech subway earmark. what do you think this does? does this change the outcome of this bill passing? alex: well, look, i still think a bill will pass. there's a deadline because of the cutoff of insurance -- excuse me, unemployment benefits that everyone wants to get in
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front of. the issue is both the overall price tag and certainly the more this hangs out there, the more people find out about some of the pork. that won't age terribly well. the larger issue and josé mentioned minimum wage. i think president biden has acknowledged that it's not going to make the final bill much to progressives. people like joe manchin on the democratic side in the senate aren't comfortable with that. so the political question they're going to have to ask themselves, both at the white house with chuck schumer and speaker pelosi is how much they want to fight for the pork and how much they want to make sure to get something done. i don't believe they will have the votes to move the package as they currently have it envisioned. griff: let's talk, you heard david spunt, white house reporter, rejoining the jcpoa, josé, quite a stark break from the last administration.
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>> sure. well, look, biden promised the american people that if he were to be elected president he would bring this back and i think it's a step in the right direction. is the iran nuclear deal perfect, absolutely not. what trump diswas irresponsible. we need to get back on the deal and we need to have changes. we have to keep a close eye in iran and joining the deal is a way to get that done. griff: alex, what do you say? alex: there's a couple of problems. what has iran done in the last 4 years to justify reentering in the negotiating agreement. i think the answer is nothing. there's also a political reality that president biden is going to have to deal with and that is senator menendez whose own democrat leading the foreign relations committee and therefore the one that has to move the agenda on capitol hill was oppose today this when it came up last time. i think multilateral engagement with the europeans is fine and
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constructive but, again, why would you show up to negotiate with someone who didn't meet the terms the first time by offering simply to reenter into that -- that agreement. doesn't make any sense. griff: so much going on from immigration to covid, to reengaging with iran and rejoining the paris climate accords. it's one month today, february 20th, since the inauguration. i want you quickly in the seconds we have left to give me a grade, how do you think the first month of president biden has gone, josé, i will go for you first. >> i think, look, i think i will say he's done a great job. this is just the start of a great term and i have no doubt the american people will continue to support joe biden because winning joe biden presidency means a winning card for the american people. griff: i will take that's an a or a plus. alex, what do you say? alex: we are a month in and we've spent a lot of time fighting about things like impeachment. we still don't have a covid bill. so if those are the measures, i
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don't think it's going amazingly well. i think the tone has been a little better and that's good an constructive but a long way to go but i think incomplete at this point. griff: incomplete. josé and alex, thank you very much for taking the time. >> thank you so much. griff: alicia. alicia: the city is shutting down two ice rinks in central park that are currently being run by the trump organization. the contracts for the rink were supposed to end in april but mayor de blasio moved the date to february 26th, the post says they have learned the move was meant to punish the former president for the january 6th capitol riot. the trump organization says their last day running the rinks will be sunday. coming up in the 4:00 p.m. hour, eric sean and arthel neville will talk to the director of a foundation harlem that works with children who will be directly impacted by the decision. they want their babysitters back.
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those were comments from a now resigned member of a northern california school board during a virtual meeting she thought wasn't being stream live and now the superintendent is responding. next. or fulvestrant alone.
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griff: members of a northern california school board resigned in the wake of a leaked video that shows them mocking parents who are pushing for in-person learning. christina coleman tracking the story live in los angeles. hi, christina. christina: hi, griff, the entire oakland union elementary board has now resigned since the profanity ridden hot mic moment was caught on wednesday. >> are we alone? >> yeah. [laughter] >> if you're going to call me out, i'm going to fuck you up. [laughter] >> sorry, that's just me. >> it was a regularly scheduled meeting held virtually and open to the public but apparently the former board members didn't know that until they belittled parents' concerns about getting kids back into classrooms. one member even suggested parents just wanted the kids out of the house so they could smoke pot.
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>> it's really unfortunate, they want to pick on us because they want their babysitters back, right? >> right. >> yeah. my brother had a delivery service for medical marijuana. the highest clientele were parents with their kids in school. >> fyi -- we have the meeting open to the public right now. christina: superintendent condemned statements and there were inappropriate comments that were made that were heard by many and not typical and not what the community should expect from our school district but parents are still hurt and upset. one mother who has a 6-year-old child in the school districts says she now questions the school board's intention and whether they take the concerns of parents seriously. >> it's heartbreaking.
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we thought we were partnering with these individuals, we thought that they were advocates for our children's education. >> the district also sent a letter to parents yesterday which included an apology from 3 of the board members and announced their resignations, but some parents still plan on protesting the comments made about them this afternoon and oakland city hall. griff: christina coleman, thank you. alicia: more on the effort to get children back into the classroom, let's bring the leader of the advocacy schools open schools u.s., karen, thank you very much for being here. we really appreciate it. you have the parents, they're at their wits end right now and they want the kids back into the classroom. what's your reaction for the resignation of the entire school board. >> parents were outrage today
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hear the comments, school boards are supposed to be there to support community and unfortunately this was not new rhetoric necessarily. we've seen in the regions where schools have remained closed which is around a third of the country at this point, we've seen a lot of rhetoric directed at parents who want schools opened and what parents would want this is not about parents, this is about our kids. we have seen fourfold increase of teen admissions to hospitals for mental health issues since the pandemic. that has accelerated as a trend. we have seen entire states reporting declines in early childhood literacy. so we really need to get our kids back to school for the good of our kids. alicia: the biden administration has been criticized by some that they have been less -- less than clear on exactly how the walk
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back to school is going to go. there are some schools that are open right now completely and then there are many others like in california and as you point out like in other places it's just not happening. take a listen. i would get your thoughts on the other side on what white house press sect jen psaki had to say this week. >> we are working with congress to get additional funding which is essential to many school districts across the country so that they can follow and take these mitigation steps recommended by the cdc. alicia: what is your take on that? do you feel like parents and teachers and districts understand how things are going forward? >> the good news is that the biden administration is back to categorizing opening schools as open 5 days and that's the expectation of parents too. the bad news of the week is that we are still struggling with, you know, being a week into the released cdc guidance which has
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been criticized by a bipartisan group of voices as being unclear, overly restrictive and not in line with the signs of school reopening. one of the biggest trends in districts like kansas city that are shelving on cdc guidance. alicia: it's been so frustrating time for so many parents. thank you very much for your time. karen bates, thank you. griff: what leaders in some border communities are saying about this, well, what it means for their towns next your broke. that's great, carl. but we need something better. that's easily adjustable has no penalties or advisory fee. and we can monitor to see that we're on track. like schwab intelligent income.
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griff: welcome back, border cities are preparing for a potential new wave of migration now that president biden moves
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to a major trump era policy. let's bring in now one of those leaders the mayor of yuma, arizona douglas nicholas to discuss how this would impact yuma and other border towns. mr. mayor, thank you for being here. i want to ask you, obviously on friday the biden administration lifting the remain in mexico policy specifically, how does that impact you? >> well, right now what that looks like it's going to exacerbate already an overworked system, so for yuma, the key is the greater border and dhs system to make sure people as they are interdicted are moved through. when you overload the system, that means more people will be staying in yuma area longer and then they will end up releasing people in our community which just began last monday. griff: let's talk about that release, so what exactly are the border patrol and ice officials
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doing in terms of catching and releasing and what is the greatest threat facing yuma with that? >> well, what happens is when they have to get them out of yuma facility to eio in arizona and when they can't meet that requirement, they end up having to release them into the community after they have been processed and so we are talking anywhere from 2 people a day up to 40 people a day that have been released this last week and they're just -- there's no shelter system. there's no resources provided for them or whether there should be i guess that's part of the question, but there's nothing for them to then figure out how to get to where they are ultimately going. griff give mr. mayor, do you know if those being released have been tested for covid? >> they have not. they do as part of regular protocol a medical screening and
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part of that, they ask the same questions you'd ask when you go to your doctor, you do you have a fever, have been exposed. we know how effective those really are and an actual test is not happening in dhs, before they are release podiuma. griff: how worried are you that this specifically will increase your covid cases? >> well, definitely something that we struggled with as a community as covid overall and so any time that you add an unknown element in that could potentially be bringing even more -- potential exposure to the community as well as just the individuals that are coming across that may need to have that additional medical care. taxes our local medical care system and we only have one hospital and they are doing a great job to addressing our population but not built for a large transit population so it could end up creating a third wave for us here in the yuma we
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are area. griff: i saw from the yuma, arizona border sector that the chief put out something, 8 mexican nationals were busted bringing 150 pounds of meth. >> right. that happens frequently and -- and there is really a correlation between how busy our border patrol agents get and how frequent those -- those -- the drug smugglers operate along the border. i don't know how coordinated it is but it is very frequent. so when we pull our border patrol agents from that interdiction and the capture part for the drugs, then to satisfy the need we have on -- on the immigrant side, that just opens the door even wider for more drug trafficking through the area. griff: mayor nicholls i want to begin where you began, criticizing for not engaging
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local leaders like yourself. has anyone from the biden administration sought your counsel on what they should be doing with regards to immigration and if not, what would you tell them? >> no, they have not. what i would tell them is there needs to be some common sense to this. if you're going to change the dynamic of a community, you really need to have that community engage. for instance, a community of our size, we are roughly 200,000 people, we don't have a network of ngo's that are nonprofits set up that could really address the situation. so that is common for most small communities along the border. so there should be a prohibition of releasing in smaller communities. the releases should be happening in communities that have some sort of nonprofits set up to address those humanitarian concerns that are owned by the migrants but also don't create additional humanitarian concerns for the communities that are being released into.
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so that's a basic step that would be important and there's so much more to talk about. griff: such a good point. we have to leave it there. i could talk to you all day. thank you very much for taking the time. >> thanks for having me. alicia: end of an era for a celebrity couple, kim kardashian and kanye west are calling it quits. we will have the details after the break. ♪ ♪ ♪
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alicia: kim kardashian has filed from divorce from kanye west, asking for joint custody, this is kardashian's third marriage and the first for kanye west and the two had been married for 7 years. griff: tensions rising between buckingham palace as they both release statement about the couple's future duties. kitty logan with the latest. hi, kitty. kitty: the final split of buckingham palace said in a statement that they won't be returning to any royal roles in the future. that statement in details reads, quote, in stopping, it is not
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possible to continue with duties and responsibilities with the life of public service. harry loses military titles, for example. that's something which meant a great deal to him but the queen has stood firm saying essentially you're in or you're out. the couple seemed disappointed for this outcome. their statement says, quote, we can all the live life of service, service is universal. now this decision finalizes the future for the couple a year after leaving the uk and settling in california. they said at the time that they were unhappy with their lives in the public eye. the queen insists they are still much loved family members but it's thought she's uncomfortable with the interview harry and megan are due to give oprah winfrey. now all this comes as the queen's husband the duke of edinburgh is in the hospital. he will stay there until next week. today his son prince charles was seeing visiting and possible
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side of concern. prince philip is 99 year's old and the palace says that there's no reason for concern and that they -- they hope for a swift recovery, back to you, griff. griff: all right, kitty logan in london watching the royals for us. thank you, kitty. alicia: supporting diversed communities, how one app is connecting black-owned businesses to thousands of users across the united states. how they're doing it up next. nd if you go too high or too low. and for those who qualify, the freestyle libre 2 system is now covered by medicare. ask your doctor for a prescription. you can do it without fingersticks. learn more at freestyle libre 2 dot u.s. ♪♪ university of phoenix is awarding up to one million dollars in new scholarships
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alicia: app that aims to lift up the african-american community and connecting users to black-owned eateries all over the country. joining me now anthony and janike edwards behind the eat okra app. anthony, i will begin with you, how did you come up with this idea? >> yeah, thank you for having us. okra came out as a solution and we wanted to understand the neighborhood and support the community. alicia: you started in 2016 and now you have 300,000 users,
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you're highlighted 5700 plus black-owned restaurants, bakeries, cafes, food trucks, can you explain to folks exactly how that works? >> yeah, so right now a lot of the listings that are on the app -- users submit restaurants and businessestous and we do work on our back end and we add them to the listing. >> yeah. had had and congratulations on this next one. at the beginning of the month you announced that you have now partnered with pepsi, tell us a little bit about this partnership and what the goal is here? >> yeah, so the pepsi team, you know, got on a call with us and we are so happy to have them. we are partnering with the pepsi dig-in program which is a program aimed at generating a hundred million dollars for black-owned restaurants and creators. alicia: and, janike, can you explain, what do you believe are some of the challenges that are
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affecting black-owned restaurants and black-owned establishments at this time? >> i would say online visibility is a challenge for a lot of the restaurants, partially the reason why we created the app in the first place. so, yeah, that's definitely one of them. >> and i would say add fund to go that as well. >> yeah. alicia: funding, is that what you said? >> yeah. alicia: yeah, it was difficult even before the pandemic, right, this is something that black-owned restaurants were dealing with even before the pandemic, the exposure and the funding and that sort of thing and then came the pandemic and the app must mean the world to so many people? >> absolutely, in the last 8 months the app has grown 4,000%. a lot of people out there are looking to support black-owned businesses or just find black food cuisine. alicia: januqie, what are your thoughts on that? >> it's been amazing just to see so many different people, so
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many communities come together and, you know, rally behind this, you know, initiative to support these businesses and to be a part of it is just -- special for us. they have been supportive and grateful for the platform. we have gone to a few businesses the past year and they told us that people have come in and told them that they, you know, found their businesses because of eatokra. it's amazing. alicia: folks should definitely know that in addition to helping all of these restaurants, the two of you have actually served this country quite -- quite well, anthony, you're a military vet served in operation iraqi freedom and you worked for the department of homeland security. fantastic couple. that's wonderful. >> we are two peas in a pod.
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alicia: and it shows, thank you so much for all that you do and hope that you have a wonderful saturday. >> thank you so much. alicia: griff. griff: as power slowly comes back on, texas residents are left to grapple with the water shortage. more on that situation next. ♪ ♪ ♪ boost. wanna build a gaming business that breaks the internet? that means working night and day... ...and delegating to an experienced live bookkeeper for peace of mind. your books are all set. so you can finally give john some attention. trusted experts. guaranteed accurate books. intuit quickbooks live.
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large parts of the state remain under boiled water notices, but many residents don't even have the water to boil in the first place. several centers are offering free water or opening refueling stations. and a welcome break from the cold as the south sees temperatures rising to normal levels or a few degrees above average by early next week. temperatures in the region are expected to hit 60 degrees tomorrow, paving the way for snow and ice to melt. and finally, turning now to the land down under where tennis star naomi osaka has clinched her fourth grand slam title, the 23-year-old defeating american jennifer brady in straight sets. alicia? alicia: first lady jill biden wrapping up virtual remarks, she talked about her own family's military service and pledged to stand by and support veterans in higher education. >> the president and i see your
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service. we're in this with you, and we will never stop working to make our nation think of your sacrifice. worthy of your sacrifice. alicia: the first lady also outlined a series of initiatives she says will help veterans and their families. can't talk anymore, griff. griff: i've got to tell you, you won't find much of anything, i mean anything, here in the nation's capital that you can get bipartisan agreement on, but thankfully support for our veterans and their service is certainly still alive and well, and that's a good thing to see. alicia: absolutely, you said it. also, i think everyone can agree everyone's happy to see texas getting temperatures that are more like texas. so we're happy for them, things are going to start warming up there. griff: and that last thing with the eatoak rah app, the florida
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grill app in d.c. has the best okra and tomatoes you can get. you don't want to miss it. that's all for alicia and i, "america's news headquarters" continues with eric and arthel coming up. arthel: pride. en approving a major disaster declaration for texas after the lone star state struggles to recover from this week's massive storm. and as electricity returns to more homes, another crisis merges. millions are under a boiled water advisory because of frozen or busted pipes while at grocery stores bottled water and food are scarce, and many stores remain closed due to power outages. welcome to "america's news headquarters," i'm arthel neville. hi, eric. eric: hello, everyone, i'm eric shawn. it is a tough time in texas now. we are following those stories and and other ones at this hour. in new york governor

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